Alberto Villoldo

250 Pages·2012·36.9 MB·English

SHAMAN

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110W TO HEAL YOURSELF

AND OTHERS

with the

ENERGY MEDICINE OF

THE AMERICAS

ALBERTO VILLOLDO, Ph.D.

Bestselling author of Dant'? ?fait' F010 . frinik

SHAMAN

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HEALER,

SAGE

'A step-by-step manual set against a bewitching backdrop of hair-
raising, Castaneda-esque tales . �
Villoldo's writing is smart,
lucid and lyrical'
New Age

`At last a deeply committed seeker, scholar and teacher has
brought the rich legacy of Native America forward to take its
rightful place among the world's greatest spiritual traditions'
Rudolf Ballentine, M.D., author of Radical Healing

laced with luminous tales of adventure, these field notes from a
stream of Inkan wisdom kept alive in the Peruvian Andes are an
invitation to realize truths of the spirit in the fabric of our own lives'
Martin Goodman, author of In Search of the Divine Mother

`Aliving blueprint of a body of knowledge, ancient and sacred.
This book is a shaman's manual for practical work on the
evolution of Being'
Heather Valencia, author of The Queen of Dreams

`A refreshing air of integrity. Villoldo has dedicated his life to
centuries-old healing techniques, and we should all be thankful.
Use this book to embark upon your own healing journey'
Peg Jordan, author of The Fitness instinct

OTHER BOOKS BY ALBERT O VILLOLDO

Dance of the Four Winds (with E. Jendresen)

Island of the Sun (with E. Jendresen)

The First Story Ever Told (with E. Jendresen)

Skeleton Woman

Healing States (with S. Krippner)

Realms of Healing (with S. Krippner)

Millennium: Glimpses into the 21st Century
(edited with K Dychhvald)

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HOW TO HEAL YOURSELF AND OTHERS WITH

THE ENERGY MEDICINE OF THE AMERICAS

ALBERTO VILLOLPO, PRID4

BANTAM BOOKS

LONDON NEW YORK • TORONTO • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND

SHAMAN,HEALER, SAGE
A BANTAM BOOK : 0553813803
9780553813807

First publication in Great Britain

Published by atrallgernen.t with
Crown. Publishers, a division of Random House inc.

PR NTING HISTORY
Bantam Press edition published 2001

7 9 10 8 6

Copyright © 2000 by Alberto Villoldo

Design by Lauren Dung
Illustrations by Nicole Kaufman

The right of Alberto Villoldo to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988

Cooditiew oSile
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be
lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that
in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being
imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Bantam Books are published by Transworld Publishers,
61-63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA,
a division of The Random House Group Ltd,
in Australia by Random House Australia (Pty) Ltd,
20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney, NSW 2061, Australia,
in New Zealand by Random House New Zealand Ltd,
18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand
and in South Africa by Random House (Pty) Ltd,
Isle of Houghton, Corner of Boundary Road & Carse O'Gowrie,
1-Ioughton 2198, South Africa.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Cox & Wyman Ltd, Readins, Berkshire.

_ • �
! �
!

ACKNOWLEPGNIENTS

THERE ARE NO WORDS THAT GAN EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE TO THE PER-
sons who made this book possible. First and foremost is my mentor,
Don Antonio, who had the patience, vision, and endurance to train

a young Western anthropologist in the shamanic arts. My editor,
Patty Gift at Random House, has immersed herself in the medicine
teachings, accompanying rue to the highest mountains of the Andes
to work with the last Inky elders. I owe her my immeasurable grati-
tude for making this book a reality. My heartfelt thanks to Laura
Wood and Normandi Ellis, for helping shape the manuscript; to
Stanley Krippner, for believing in me and supporting my research
during my early years; and to my agent, Sue Bergen, for her steadfast
encouragement. Last, I want to acknowledge the contributions made
by the students and faculty of the Healing the Light Body School in
shaping the techniques and practices discussed liereiii. arid Lisa
Surnmerlot, for her untiring love and support.

PROLOGUE

PART I
TEACHINGS OF THE SHAMANS 7

CHAPTER 1

Healing and Infinity
I I

CHAPTER 2

The Lulll ii70 US Healers 25

CHAPTER 3

The Luminous Energy Field 41

PAM- ii THE LUMINOUS WORLD 67

CHAPTER

The Chakras
69

CHAPTER 5

The Shaman's Way of Seeing
107

CHAPTER 6

Sacred Space
135

PART w THE SHAMAN'S WORK 151

CHAPTER 7

The Illumination Process
155

CHAPTER 8

The Extraction Process 177

CHAPTER 9

Death, Dying, and Beyond
207

EPILOGUE
233

INPEX
239

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PROLOGUE

THIS BOOK IS THE RESULT OF MY TRAVELS AND TRAINING WITH THE
Inka shamans. One of the great civilizations of the Americas and the
builders of Machu Picchu, the Inka lived in cities in the clouds with
cobblestone streets that were cleaned every night by releases of water
from the city's canal system. Inka shamans practiced energy medicine
for more than five thousand years, transmitting this knowledge from
one generation for the next through an oral tradition. For twenty-five
years I studied with the finest Inka medicine men and women. The
rites I underwent in the high mountains of the Andes and the Ama-
zon adhered to ancient tradition and sometimes required months of
preparation. They freed the apprentice from living in the grip of fear,
greed, violence, and predatory sexuality. My quest was guided by an
old Inka named Antonio Morales. Nely adventures in the Amazon and
the Andean highlands with Don Antonio are documented in my ear-
lier books. Dance of the Four Winds and Island of the Sun.
The techniques for healing with spirit and light in this book are my
contemporary reinterpretation of ancient healing practices. Versions
of the shaman's way of seeing that I call the Second Awareness and
the Extraction Process are still in use in North and South America.
The Death Rites originate in the Amazon and form part of a body of
knowledge discovered by men and women who have transcended our
notions of time and death, The Illumination Process 1 developed with
my mentor Don Antonio from the remnants of a nearly forgotten Inka
practice for healing through the Luminous Energy Field. These tech-
niques are extraordinarily powerful and effective. They must be used
only with the strongest code of ethics and integrity.

2 / ALBERTO VI LLOLDO

Part I provides a background of the belief system on which these
techniques are based. Part II provides techniques for learning the
shaman's way of seeing and for creating sacred space and practices
you can experiment with for your personal healing. Please do not use
them with others without adequate training from a master practi-
tioner. Part III describes advanced techniques that must be performed
by a master practitioner, a person who has undergone an apprentice-
ship overseen by a skilled teacher. These chapters describe proce-
dures used for unblocking the immune response, for extracting
intrusive energies and entities, as well as assisting a loved one who is
making his or her return journey to the Spirit world.
There are dangers associated with energy healing, both for the
client and for the healer. Far too many poorly trained practitioners
dispense energy healing without understanding the mechanics of the
human energy field. I have seen people diagnosed with cancer
receive "energy healing" on their tumor, only to have the cancer
spread throughout their body. lb their disbelief, they discovered that
cancer thrives on certain forms of energy. I have also seen persons
suffering from serious psychological conditions who have been
treated by unqualified healers, only to have their conditions exacer-
bated and the symptoms of their neuroses or their dysfunctional
worldview reinforced. In one case, a woman came to see me after los-
ing her child in an automobile accident. She had been to a psychic
who said that her little girl was always by her side, that all she had to
do was to "be open" and she would feel the presence of her daugh-
ter. The woman felt an immediate sense of relief. Yet after a few days
she began to suffer from insomnia. After a week of no sleep she came
to see me. The first thing she said was that she wanted to die and was
ready to take her own life. When I tested her for the presence of an
intrusive entity (see Chapter 8), I discovered she tested positive. The

girl's spirit had attached itself to her mother's Luminous Energy
Field, seeking refuge from the confusion and agitation one experi-
ences after a traumatic death. The healer's advice to "be open,"

SHAMAN, HEALER., SAGE 3

although well intended, was keeping both mother and daughter in
emotional turmoil and psychic pain.
in our first session the mother released her daughter to the lumi-
nous healers who would carry her to the light of the Spirit world. It
was difficult for her to let go. During the Illumination Process she saw
death as a doorway to infinity; she experienced that her daughter was
separated from her only by a thin veil. Shortly thereafter she began
sleeping soundly again. We then sealed the opening in her Luminous
Energy Field through which the girl's spirit had entered. Like an
open wound, this tear in her energy field was an invitation to oppor-
tunistic spirit entities and disturbing energies. We then spent the next
few sessions healing her grief. I encouraged her to go to a psy-
chotherapist who specialized in treating persons recovering from loss.
I'm convinced that the mother would have committed suicide had
she continued to follow the psychic's advice. Instead, she engaged her
healing journey with courage and dedication. Today she is a gifted
and compassionate healer, assisting others who have suffered loss and
bereavement in their lives.

BLACK AND WHITE MAGIC

When I was in my early twenties, I eras preparing for an expedition to
the Amazon when I received a call from the foundation that spon-
sored my research. They needed an anthropologist to complete a
study on Voodoo healers in Haiti, I was reluctant to go, as I knew very
little of the African-derived healing practices in Haiti. The founda-
tion officer explained that it would be for only ten days, to assist the
senior anthropologist on the project, and persuaded me when he
mentioned he was reviewing my grant application to return to the
Amazon. Five days later I landed in Port-au-Prince. The senior
anthropologist was a man in his late thirties who had spent the better
part of a year in Haiti. He explained to me that the French who col-
onized the island had been the worst slave drivers in the New World.

4 / ALBERTO vILL0Lrio

Whereas the average life expectancy of an African slave after he
arrived in America was thirty years, the life expectancy of a slave who
had the misfortune of landing in Haiti was only two years. He went
on to explain that Voodoo was originally a healing practice from sub-
Saharan Africa, and that in Haiti it was also used to harm one's foes,
particularly the ruthless slave masters. The techniques were identical,
he explained. The same practices you used to heal someone could be
used to hurt someone. The same techniques that were used to stim-
ulate the immune system to eradicate a cancerous tumor could be
used to lay waste to the immune system so that your victim would die
from pneumonia in a matter of weeks.
Being in my early twenties, I was convinced that I knew better.
Black magic, I conjectured, could work only on those who believed
in it If you did not subscribe to the belief system, it could not affect
you. I remember stating this matter-of-factly to the senior anthropol-
ogist as we sat at a small café by the waterfront. He looked at me and
smiled. "I'm willing to put my money on that," I said. "Done," he
replied. We agreed on a hundred-dollar wager that Voodoo could not
affect me. We headed off to the home of the Voodoo priest he had
been working with. The old man lived in a ramshackle wooden but
on a hilltop overlooking the town. After casual introductions in the
local Haitian Creole, which my colleague spoke fluently, he pro-
ceeded to explain to the man that I was a nonbeliever, that I thought
the old man's magic was all make-believe, and that he wanted to
teach me a lesson. I understood enough French to pick up some of
the words. "Don't hurt him," he said. The old man turned to me and
smiled. "You want believe?" he asked in broken English, and laughed
loudly. We agreed that he would do his work on Monday of the fol-
lowing week, after I returned to California.
On the appointed day! was having dinncr with friends, telling them
about my Haiti experience and the healing power of Voodoo. I was
pontificating on how belief was an important ingredient in the equa-
tion, both for healing the sick or harming adversaries. If you lived out-

SHAMAN, HEALER-, SAGE
5

side the belief system, I explained, it simply did not work, and I was
living proof, as that very evening the meanest Voodoo priest in Haiti
was working on me, to no avail. Everyone raised his or her glass of
wine to my health. That was Monday evening. On Tuesday and
Wednesday I felt fine, but come Thursday midafternoon I developed
a headache that by early evening had turned into a migraine. By eight
o'clock my gut had twisted into a knot, I was having intestinal spasms,
and I was retching uncontrollably, At midnight the phone rang with
a collect cal] from the anthropologist in Haiti. They had been unable
to work on me on Monday, as we had agreed, but had done so that
day. He had just returned to his hotel from the ceremony and wanted
to know if I felt anything. I groaned into the phone and told him to
go back to the Voodoo priest and ask him to undo whatever it was he
had done. At that point, even death would have been a welcome relief.
By the following morning I was nearly recovered and managed to
convince myself that I had picked up some intestinal bug. I went to
the university health center, where my doctor ran tests and found that
I was clear of any parasites. 'File lesson cost me a hundred dollars,
which at that time was a lot of money for a graduate student, and one
of the worst nights of my life. I discovered that just as you can help
people through energy healing. you can also hurt them. I would later
learn that energy healing from a poorly trained practitioner is often
tantamount to black magic, regardless of bow well-meaning the
healer is. Black magic happens not only in Haiti and the bayous of
Louisiana but anywhere well-meaning but poorly trained individ-
uals lay their hands on others, attempting to perform healing, and
unknowingly transmit toxic energy to them. Students will sometimes
comment that this can't happen if you are sending love to ;mother
person, as this energy is supposedly pure and holy. I remind these stu-
dents of the pain that we can inflict on others in the name of love. In
time, I discovered another kind of black magic we do to ourselves: the
negative thoughts and beliefs that keep is from our personal power
and wreak havoc on our immune system.